• Capture their attention. The average employer spends less than 10 seconds reviewing your resume or CV. Bullet points highlighting skills that are relevant to the position are most likely to catch their eye. Avoid distracting formats or designs that could quickly take their attention away from your qualifications.
• Make it professional. No matter the level of creativity required for the position, this is not the place for a self portrait. According BeHiring.com, there is an 88% job rejection rate if you have a photo of yourself on your CV. Keep your resume free of personal information including family status, age, photos, and most importantly do not include your social security number. Your resume is a professional sales platform, use it to sell your professional abilities and accomplishments.
• Review Your Contact Information. Placing phone numbers that you are not likely to be easily reached at or that may be answered by someone that is not likely to pass on the message can certainly cost you an interview quickly.  Are you including an e-mail address? If so be sure to check it regularly, a growing number of employers prefer to contact candidates via e-mail to help cut down on phone traffic volume. Keep in mind over 75% of resumes are ignored if the e-mail address listed is unprofessional.
• Triple check it for errors. Make sure that before passing your resume along you have checked it for spelling and grammatical errors. Do not rely on spell check to proof your work. Be sure to have several people review it. Chances are, they may find an additional skill or accomplishment that you forgot to highlight as well. Submitting different resumes for various positions? Be sure to have each version proofed and saved separately. If you continuously change or update the file you are more likely to include an error.

Keep in mind with over 200 resumes received on average for each open position, your efforts to land an interview cannot stop after submitting a resume. With hundreds of thousands of resumes being uploaded weekly to sites like Monster and Career Builder, setting yourself apart from the masses is crucial. Proper interview and follow up etiquette can go a long way in setting yourself up against the competition.

Are you a stand out professional, technical professional, or skilled worker seeking contingent, temporary, or long term career opportunities?  Visit our job seekers section for more information!  Want to learn more about how you can gain access to Trillium’s national network of professionals and skilled workers? Contact us today!

Trillium, a national leader in staffing and recruitment is a valued staffing partner to over 5,000 companies nationwide. Trillium is privately owned by Oskar René Poch.